Tag: molasses

Please let me introduce you to timtana, a new gluten free whole grain flour. It is dark and handsome. A flour with substance.

Montana Gluten Free Processors are working with the Celiac Sprue Association, who called for volunteers to develop recipes for timtana flour. I like to try new foods and answered the call. They sent me a free #3 bag of timtana flour to work with.

Timtana flour is ground from a perennial grain, the plants grow every year without needing to be planted each spring. Most other flours are from annual grains.

High protein

Timtana has more protein than amaranth, buckwheat, oat, millet, quinoa, rice, sorghum, and teff flours. Timtana is 5 grams of protein per 1/4 cup. The other flours are 3 or 4 grams. Refined starches, such as tapioca or corn, have zero protein.

High fiber

Timtana flour also has more fiber than the above gluten free flours, 5 grams per 1/4 cup. Compare that with 1 to 4 grams for other flours. Refined starches have zero fiber too.

I am batting .500 using timtana. The spice muffins worked great the first time. Pancakes did not, those need more work.

3 Giveaways, you may get to try it too.

Montana Gluten Free Processors want more people to play with timtana. So they are giving 3 lucky folks each a free #3 bag of flour.

Simply comment below by Wednesday, January 6. Winners will selected by random generator and announced Thursday, January 7.

Dedicated gluten free producers.

I always like to know the farm to table story. From the Montana Gluten Free Producers website.

Our products are manufactured in a dedicated state of the art gluten free facility that only processes and packages our own gluten free products. The story however doesn’t begin there, to be truly gluten free you must start in the field. Montana Gluten Free Processors works directly with traditional farmers to grow our private seed stock on ground with at least 4 years history of no gluten grains being produced on the field. Only production from our proven healthy seed stock is acceptable for Montana Gluten Free production. Crops are planted, fields are inspected, and harvested, storage and transportation equipment is dedicated and inspected to insure purity and quality. We watch over our product from the field to the package to be certain that the product in our package is the best all natural gluten free product food you can buy.

Success!

Today I share my success. What I call Timtana Spice Muffins originated as pumpkin walnut muffins in Gourmet November 1997.

We offered our first gluten free client pumpkin muffins, made with Bob’s Red Mill gluten free blend flour. She said, repeatedly, we should open a gluten free bakery. Starting with those muffins.

I like to take a good recipe and make it better. Really, I love when that happens.

Timtana flour improves the nutrition and changes the flavor a bit. The pumpkin flavor disappears. Sweet spice, the flavor and the fragrance, now predominate. So I changed simply the name. 🙂

Simplify if you like.

Admittedly, this is along list of ingredients. You might omit the dates and walnuts, but I wouldn’t.

And you can substitute 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice if you do not like to measure out 4 different spices.

Make this in a 10 oz custard cup for a burger or sandwich size bun, as pictured.

For two small dinner rolls, use the same recipe and divide the batter into two 6 oz custard cups. Microwave these together for only 80 seconds total.

Or double the recipe below and put into two 10 oz custard cups. Microwave each for 90 seconds, one at a time.

I use inexpensive Pyrex custard cups, available in my regular grocery store.

Molasses instead of sugar

Molasses give a bit richer color, more antioxidants than white sugar, and the bun is a bit moister.

Cocoa for color

You will not taste it, but it makes the buns brown. And adds its own antioxidants. I leave it out of the millet version.

Nut meal

No need to buy nut meal if you have nuts and a spice or coffee grinder. Whiz them in the grinder for just a few seconds and you get light, fluffy meal.

Seeds

Without the seeds, the sides and bottom of the bun looks steamed rather than baked. Adding seeds all around looks very inviting. I like sesame, caraway, millet, poppy and whole cumin seeds. They add flavor, fragrance, and crunch.

In a small bowl, beat the egg and molasses with a fork, for about a minute.

In another small bowl, add the flour, almond meal, ground flax seed, baking powder, and cocoa powder. Add a pinch of salt if you like. Make sure everything is thoroughly mixed so you do not see little balls of cocoa or bitter baking soda.

Add the eggs to the dry ingredients, stir until smooth.

Oil a 10 oz Pyrex custard cup and sprinkle sesame seeds on the bottom and sides.

Pour the batter into the cup. Top with more sesame seeds.

Microwave for 90 seconds.

That is it! A ready to eat, tasty bun. A wonder bun!

Try these and tell us how you make them. What flours and seeds? I think other nuts would be grand. And herbs or cheese. How about cinnamon and raisins?

Let your imagination go wild. You can have so much fun with just a little investment in time and ingredients.

Added 9-8-2009. Please visit the pantryto view a couple of free videos, including Wonder Buns. We are just starting to stock the pantry, there is much more to come. We invite you to become a member, help yourself to the free pantry, and stay tuned for new content. Thanks!

Sweeteners where purchased from major retailers, health food stores, and online distributors. From one to 53 samples were tested for each sweetener. Honey had the most samples, representing mostly refined clover honey as it is most available.

Results- a few surprises!

In order of antioxidant levels, high to low.

Sweetener

Relative amount of antioxidants

date sugar

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

molasses, blackstrap

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molasses, dark

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barley malt syrup

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(not gluten free)

brown rice malt syrup

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx(not gluten free)

sugar, dark brown

xxxxx

100% maple syrup

xxxx

sugar, light brown

xxx

sugar, raw cane

xx

honey

xx

sugar, turbinado

x

agave nectar

corn syrup, light

sugar, white

Notes: White sugar, corn syrup, and agave nectar had almost no antioxidants.

These are composite results. The study did show some variability of antioxidant levels between samples of the same type of some sweeteners.

My graph is a crude representation of the results.

How does this compare with other foods?

broccoli, raw

xxx

milk chocolate candy

xxxxxxxxx

red wine (merlot)

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blueberries

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

walnuts

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Note: Common serving sizes where compared.

Walnuts where way off this chart. One ounce of walnuts have about twice the antioxidants of one ounce of date sugar.

Can we switcheroo?

It is not possible to use some high antioxidant sweeteners measure for measure in place of white sugar in many recipes. A cup or more of black strap molasses in a cake will not be good. Date sugar is delicious, but will change the flavor, color and texture in recipes with lots of sugar. It is also expensive and not readily available. Some recipes successfully use these sweeteners though.

It is pretty easy to substitute dark brown sugar for white in many recipes. Did you know that brown sugar is simply refined white sugar mixed with molasses? The darker the sugar, the more molasses.

Using averages, the researchers concluded that substituting high antioxidant sweeteners for white sugar can increase the antioxidants consumed as much as having a serving of blueberries. That is because we eat so much sugar.

To much sugar

The average American eats 31 teaspoons of added sugar a day. Yikes!! While it is useful to use high antioxidant sweeteners, it is also important to simply use less sugar. And according to this study, using agave is not much better than white sugar.

Not tested yet

I like sorghum syrup and have used palm sugar too. They were not tested, so I do not know the antioxidant levels of these sweeteners. If anyone has this information, please share.